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British Council Science Education Newsletter Publications
Ruth Petersen | Eric
Albone
UK-Japan Young Scientists Working Together
JAPAN 2001 SCIENCE, CREATIVITY & THE YOUNG MIND WORKSHOP
Patron, The Rt Hon the Lord Jenkin of Roding
Dr Eric Albone, Clifton Scientific Trust, Bristol, and
Lawrence Williams, Holy Cross School, New Malden
The British Council Science Education Newsletter 155,
December 2001
This July, as part of the Japan 2001 Festival, sixty post-16
students from schools across Britain and Japan came together in Bristol
to work for a week in small UK-Japan teams on a wide range of genuine
open-ended science-related explorations that challenged their ingenuity
and creativity.
This was the first time such a UK-Japan partnership had
been attempted and was a resounding success in spite of all the difficulties
of language. As one Japanese student wrote, "I could break the
language wall".
In the process the students not only put their school
knowledge to use and discovered something of the "scientist in
themselves", but also by living and working together came to share
and value each other's ways of thinking and working. The Workshop was
over-subscribed by students in the UK and in Japan. In both countries,
two thirds of the applications came from young women.
Ten Student Teams, led by top professionals, tackled challenges
in the fields of Aeronautics, Archaeology, Chemistry, Earthquake Engineering,
Environment, Ethics in Medicine, Space Science, Science through Theatre,
Vulcanology and Wildlife Conservation. At the end of the week each Team
gave a public presentation of its achievements. As Professor Colin Blakemore,
FRS, commented following the public presentations:
"I was very struck, as anyone watching this would be, by the enthusiasm
of the members of the teams, especially the relationships between the
British and Japanese participants. I think it demonstrates very well
how useful, practical and collaborative projects can be in learning.
I am sure all of you agree that doing these projects together is a better
way of learning about subjects, in some cases on very difficult subjects,
than listening to a lecture or reading from a textbook."
There is not space here to detail individual Team Projects,
save to mention just one which provides powerful evidence of the potential
of video conferencing in facilitating just these kinds of interaction
in the future. This builds on work reported in previous Science Education
Newsletters (Science, Creativity and the Young Mind, SEN, 138, 1998;
Videoconference on aeronautics between the Holy Cross School UK and
NASA, USA, SEN, 151, 2000; Technology connects science students to the
"real world", SEN, 153, 2001).
Full Reports of the Workshop are in preparation and some
information is also available on the Workshop Website at www.clifton-scientific.org/j2001.
Our Space Science Team, comprising students Toshiyuki Itai (Tsukuba
Daigaku fuzoku Kotogakko), Rania Kashi (Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School,
London), Akiro Nakamura (Kaisei Gakuen, Tokyo), Ryo Nakamura (Rikkyo
Niiza High School, Tokyo), Lee Parsons (Hengrove School, Bristol) and
Adriano Silva (Sir George Monoux Sixth Form College, Walthamstow), working
on Martian vulcanology with scientists Dr Carsten Riedel, Stuart Stansfield
and Professor Steve Sparks FRS, in Bristol University Department of
Earth Sciences, was in daily communication via videoconferencing with
Joseph Kolecki and his colleagues at the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) Glenn Learning Technologies Project, Cleveland,
Ohio, US.
Joe Kolecki at NASA began the week through a videoconference
link with the students by raising questions concerning various competing
theories about the probable formation of volcanoes on Mars. Of specific
interest was whether the great Tharsis volcanoes might be the result
of an ancient impact event of planetary proportions, vs whether plate
tectonic movement, evidence for which was recently discovered by NASA's
Mars Global Surveyor Spacecraft, might account for them. The groundbreaking
ICT aspect of the work of the group was that each day, Joe talked with
the students and their Bristol scientist mentors over an ISDN 2 video-link,
and supported their work by email. On Monday, the problem was outlined,
on Tuesday and Wednesday difficulties arising from the work were discussed
"live" with Joe both over the video link and by email, and
on Thursday afternoon, the students gave a formal presentation of their
findings to Joe and to several visitors at NASA, this time over an ISDN
6 video-link, in advance of their public presentation on Friday to the
Bristol audience.
The students used photographs of Mars from the NASA web
site, communicated with Joe by email and by video-link, sent JPEGS of
their work in progress, used a document camera to show NASA different
aspects of their work, used spreadsheets to develop their calculations,
word-processed their results; and prepared their final presentation
using PowerPoint, with specially created graphics, including Japanese
Kanji and animation.
The Space Science Team results were spectacular on every
level and are soon to be published both on the Clifton Scientific Trust
and NASA websites. As Ruth Petersen, Educational Coordinator, Learning
Technologies Project at NASA Glenn Research Centre wrote following the
Workshop;
During four videoconferencing connections between Joe Kolecki
and the Space Science team, we witnessed real world science education
at its finest... Special guests from NASA and the Center of Science
and Industry (COSI) in Toledo, Ohio, all felt the excitement of the
real life scientific investigation and were amazed at the students'
initiative and hard work... The model demonstrates effective collaboration
among diverse cultures, as well as the effective use of technology
(ISDN videoconferencing, e-mail, data sharing, and the Internet) in
the educational setting. More importantly, it demonstrates that, given
an exciting challenge and necessary resources, young people will far
exceed everyone's expectations!
The Workshop was supported by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese
Foundation, the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, and Japan 2001. Recruitment
of British Students was undertaken in association with the University
of Bristol Widening Participation Office, and recruitment of Japanese
students was undertaken and funded by the Chemical Society of Japan;
Council of Chemistry Education in association with the Society of Biological
Sciences Education of Japan, the Physics Education Society of Japan,
and the Japan Society of Earth Sciences Education. In addition to NASA
and the University of Bristol other Workshop partners included Airbus
UK, Bristol Zoo Gardens, Bristol City Museum, Connexions West of England,
The Environment Agency, The Y Touring Theatre Company, The University
of the West of England and colleagues from Holy Cross School, New Malden
& The Rikkyo School, Horsham
The Workshop was endorsed by Dr Peter Briggs, Chief Executive,
British Association for the Advancement of Science, Mr Stephen Cox,
Executive Secretary, Royal Society and Mr Kunio Sato, Director, Japan
Society for the Promotion of Science, London Liaison Office
Further Information from Dr Eric Albone, Director, Clifton
Scientific Trust (charity 1020913), 49 Northumberland Road, Bristol,
BS6 7BA, UK; (+44)-(0)117-924-7664; eric.albone@clifton-scientific.org
